Baptist congregants in St. Paul, Minnesota, showed up for Sunday morning worship, likely expecting some spiritual uplift.
Instead, a group of roughly 25-35 protesters interrupted the Cities Church service at 10:40 a.m., chanting “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement out!” and “Justice for Renee Good!” according to reporting and video.
Renee Nicole Good, 37, was killed during an altercation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis on Wednesday, Jan. 7.
A week and a half later, protesters targeted the pastor of Cities Church, David Easterwood, who the church confirmed is a “field office director” for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in St. Paul.
After multiple requests from church leadership for the group to leave, services were forced to end early due to the intrusion. Parishioner Caleb Phillips claimed protesters then shouted, “Who shut this down? We shut this down!” He said that he and fellow members felt “violated” by the intrusion into their sanctuary. “I’ve always felt so comfortable and peaceful at church.”
Don Lemon, former CNN anchor, who now hosts an independent podcast, livestreamed the event — starting with interviews of the protesters prepping outside.
Six minutes after they flooded into the service, Lemon reported, “I’m looking at a young man. … He’s frightened. He’s scared. He’s crying.”
“I imagine it’s uncomfortable and traumatic for the people here,” he later said. “But … that’s what protesting is about.”
Lemon reiterated this several times: “That’s the whole point of it — to disrupt, to make (people) uncomfortable. … You have to make people uncomfortable in these times. ... You have to be willing to go into places and disrupt and make people uncomfortable.”
A few minutes later amid the tumult, Lemon interviewed the lead pastor of Cities Church, Jonathan Parnell, who was apparently unaware of Lemon’s own leanings. “This is unacceptable. It’s shameful — shameful to interrupt a public gathering of Christians in worship.”
“We’re here to worship Jesus, because that’s the hope of these cities. … The hope of the world is Jesus Christ.”
The pastor then requested that Lemon leave, unless he was there to worship. “I have to take care of my church and my family.”
Outside, Lemon interviewed congregants leaving, including one man who described himself as “a harmless Christian here that wants to praise the Lord with my son.”
“I’m so upset right now. … I’m thirsty and I can’t think very clearly,” he said. “I don’t want to interview right now.”
In a statement, “Standing for the Sanctity of Worship under the Rule of Law,” The Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention called what happened “an unacceptable trauma,” citing videos showing protesters shouting “insults and accusations at youth, children and families.”
“The disruption of a religious gathering is an unacceptable violation of civil peace. We urge our leaders to stand firmly against any tactics that use the intimidation of a local congregation as a tool for political protest. … The freedom to worship without fear of harassment is a foundational right that must be defended.”
In response to criticism for his reporting, Lemon has since defended his livestream as a First Amendment issue, saying he was “just there as a journalist.”
Although the Department of Justice has not made a decision about whether to charge Lemon or protest leaders, DOJ civil rights chief Harmeet Dhillon stated on X: “A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest! It is a space protected from exactly such acts by federal criminal and civil laws! Nor does the First Amendment protect your pseudo journalism of disrupting a prayer service. You are on notice!”
When asked by Glenn Beck, “Do you go after the journalist that’s reporting it?” Dhillon raised the hypothetical of a reporter deciding to go along with a bank robbery he hears about, because “he sympathizes with them.”
“He doesn’t get a ‘get out of jail free’ card because he’s self-described as a journalist,” said Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. “The freedom of the press extends to a lot of different areas. It does not extend to somebody just trespassing and being embedded with a group of rioters and being part of a group that storms a church.”
The church statement also reiterated that their congregation represented “a diverse body of believers with various perspectives on complex civic issues, including immigration. However, we are united in the conviction that the Gospel of Jesus Christ transcends political agendas.”
Church “is a place for spiritual transformation and biblical teaching, not a platform for political theater or coerced denouncements.”
“Jesus … flipped over tables,” protest leader Nikima Levy Armstrong told Lemon afterward in justification. “So we came and flipped over a table today.”
The next day, Trey Turner, who leads The Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention, told The Associated Press, “I believe we must be resolute in two areas: encouraging our churches to provide compassionate pastoral care to these (migrant) families and standing firm for the sanctity of our houses of worship.”
Phillips predicted the protest at their congregation would draw more people who want to be a part of their church. “Because you know if the world’s against it, you know that God’s for it.”